Trump Corruption Inc., Part 5
See Trump Corruption Inc., Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here.
Trump’s most dangerous corruption involves his efforts to corrupt our democracy by stealing elections and preventing eligible citizens from voting.
He is trying to do it by using the executive branch to seize power the Constitution gives only to the states and Congress: power over voter registration, mail ballots, voter data, and the counting and certification of election results. He is also already using the Justice Department and the FBI to intimidate voters and volunteers.
Trump reflexively claims elections are rigged and voter fraud has occurred whenever the results or vote-counting process threatens his political interests. Yet he has never provided a shred of credible evidence to support his false and malicious claims. He has made the Big Lie a central tool of his presidential politics: repeat false claims often enough, and many will begin to treat them as facts.
Trump attacked the 2016 presidential election before and after he was elected, falsely claiming it was subject to voter fraud and rigged against him. In 2020, he attempted the first presidential coup in the 237-year history of the presidency, highlighted by the Trump-inspired mob attack on the Capitol that injured 140 police officers.
There is no reason to doubt that Trump will do everything he can to steal the 2026 elections to keep congressional Republicans in power. He is a recidivist.
On day one of his second presidency, he pardoned the convicted criminals who participated in his coup attempt, including those who beat police officers. The message was hard to miss: I stand with you on your attack on the Capitol and the police. Stand back and stand by. I may well call on you again.
In March 2025, Trump began his efforts to take control of federal elections. He issued an executive order that would set restrictive voting requirements and potentially result in innumerable eligible citizens losing their right to vote.
The Constitution, however, is crystal clear that election procedures are set by the states and Congress, with no role for the executive branch. A federal district court struck down as unconstitutional the key portions of the Trump executive order.
He hasn’t stopped trying though. On March 31 of this year, Trump issued his second voting rights executive order designed to restrict mail-in ballots. The order “would give the U.S. Postal Service sweeping new authority to regulate mail ballots and would force major changes to the administration of the midterm elections.”
On June 2, a federal district court heard oral argument in a case filed by the League of Women Voters and others that challenged the constitutionality of this order. In April, officials from 23 states had earlier brought a similar lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this executive order.
Then this month the Post Office proposed a new rule to allow it to refuse to deliver ballots in states that do not provide their voting rolls to the federal government. The proposed rule and the executive order are another attempt to give the executive branch power to oversee elections that the Constitution denies it.
The Justice Department has filed lawsuits against 30 states demanding they turn over sensitive voter data, which many states have refused to provide. Six of the lawsuits against the states have been dismissed, while the administration has not won a case.
Meanwhile, Trump has been trying to force Congress to enact national voting restrictions. He has threatened to oppose extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act unless Congress attaches the SAVE America Act, which would impose restrictive federal proof-of-citizenship and voter-ID requirements. It won’t happen.
The FBI has seized ballots in Georgia, Michigan and Arizona on the pretext that voter fraud occurred. Last week, federal law enforcement personnel raided an Ohio voting rights group and took computers and other materials. The group reportedly had registered 100,000 voters in Ohio in 2024.
A recent New York Times story detailed how the administration, led by Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and supported by Vice President Vance, seriously considered the use of the Insurrection Act. If invoked close to the election, this could lead to troops on the streets to intimidate potential voters. ICE agents could also be used.
There are also national emergency powers provided to a president that Trump could try to use to disrupt the election. The Trump administration also could try to seize ballots on Election Day or file lawsuits challenging elections or interfere with the certification of winners in Congress.
Some of these efforts are already underway. The administration has tried to rewrite voting rules by executive order, tried to force states to surrender sensitive voter data, involved federal law enforcement in old and discredited voter fraud claims and targeted voter registration work. Others will come as we get closer to the election.
Fortunately, there are lawyers, nonprofit legal groups, state officials, civic groups, voting-rights advocates, and ordinary citizens preparing to fight these efforts in court and in the public arena. Senate Democrats are already exploring injunctions to keep armed federal agents and armed citizens away from voting sites, and lawsuits to force the return of ballots if they are confiscated in key contests.
Trump’s lies about “rigged elections” and “voter fraud” have already seriously damaged public trust, and he will keep using those lies before and after the 2026 elections.
Trump will not succeed in his attempt to steal the 2026 elections. In the 250th year of our nation’s existence, Americans will stop Trump in his tracks.
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Fred’s Weekly Note appears on Thursdays in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s newsletter, and other recent editions, here. And subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.
